This application is in response to the Program Announcement entitled Social and Cultural Dimensions of Health (PA-02-043). Two important health problems are studied: low birth weight (LBW) and obesity. It is well known that LBW and obesity disproportionately affects those in the lowest socio-economic strata [1] [2]. However, while numerous studies have documented a strong and consistent relationship between poverty and low birth weight, and poverty and obesity [1, 4-6] [7], there is a paucity of research going beyond these descriptions to investigate the multiple dimensions of absolute and relative poverty. These health problems need to be studied in a new way that goes beyond the individual level and simple cross sectional designs. This study will do so. We will develop innovative cumulative measures of individual and neighborhood relative deprivation and a cumulative measure of the generosity of the social safety net (e.g. income supplements for TANF families) to supplement point-in-time measures of absolute deprivation at the individual and neighborhood level. Relative deprivation is a formal construct used in welfare economics to quantify relative social rank [8] [9]. This study will use three key health measures, birth weight, adult body mass index (BMI) and child percentile rank of BMI-for-age and gender (PR), to examine relationships between relative and absolute deprivation and these health problems. Longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and its associated child study are used to implement these analyses. The specific aims for this application are: 1) Test the significance of relative deprivation, at a point-in-time and cumulatively, in explaining the observed socio-economic differences in birth weight controlling for absolute measures of individual income, neighborhood poverty and known risk factors. 2) Test the significance of relative deprivation, at a point-in-time and cumulatively, in explaining the observed socioeconomic differences in adult BMI controlling for absolute measures of individual income, neighborhood poverty and known risk factors. 3) Test the significance of relative deprivation, at a point-in-time and cumulatively, in explaining the observed socio-economic differences in childhood BMI, measured by percentile rankings, controlling for absolute measures of individual income, neighborhood poverty, maternal BMI and known risk factors. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]